The field of the disclosure relates to additive manufacturing systems and, more specifically, to x-ray imaging devices for use with Electron Beam Melting (EBM) manufacturing systems and methods of in-situ monitoring and inspecting components manufactured with EBM manufacturing systems.
Additive manufacturing systems and processes are used to fabricate precision three-dimensional components from a digital model. Such components are fabricated using an additive process, where successive layers of material are solidified one on top of the other. At least some known additive manufacturing systems use an energy source and a series of lenses and mirrors to direct a focused energy beam over a powdered material in a pattern provided by a digital material. Some known additive manufacturing systems include Electron Beam Melting (EBM), Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Laser Cusing systems.
In some known additive manufacturing systems, layer and component quality is reduced due to variation in heat being transferred to the metal powder by the focused energy beam within the melt pool. For example, sometimes undesirable features such as air pockets, internal voids, and cracking occur within or between build layers. In addition, in some known additive manufacturing systems, heat variation also induces porosity within the build layers. Moreover, variation in energy beam position is also known to generate these undesirable features within the additively manufactured component.
At least some known additive manufacturing systems include imaging devices that generate images of portions of the melt pool during the fabrication process. The imaging devices typically include a static camera with low exposure that tracks the focused energy beam to capture light during the melting process. However, such imaging devices only generate images of visible portions of the component and thus do not capture subsurface features. Other known component inspection techniques include ultrasound and x-ray imaging. However, ultrasound imaging requires that the component be finished, thus further expending time and materials costs for a potentially undesirable part. Additionally, x-ray imaging is typically performed by digital x-ray or Computed Tomography (CT) scans, which are limited by the size of the component and also require a separate x-ray source to generate a large amount of x-ray energy to penetrate the entire component.